Mobile internet at uniform rate from March 15: BTRC

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BRTC) is going to launch a uniform price rate for mobile internet from March 15, in an effort to make the service consumer-friendly.

The decision was made after holding discussions with the telecom operators, said BTRC Vice Chairman Subrata Roy Maitra on Saturday.

“We are going to start the uniform price rate hopefully from 15 March. We have taken the decision after consulting with the operators and with this, mobile internet is expected to be consumer-friendly,” he told The Business Post.

Besides, the mobile internet users are going to see their unused data from one package being carried forward to any other new packs. But the decision on tariffs is yet to be made, he added.

Under the new guidelines, mobile operators will distribute three types of data packages: regular package, special package and research and development package.

Last year, the regulatory body had said mobile phone operators would have to transfer the unused internet data to the next package if new packs are bought before the expiry of the existing ones and it to be effective from March 1, 2022.

And it was said to be applied to all types of internet bundles offered by mobile phone operators.

However, the consumers welcomed the fresh BTRC move and hoped that it would mitigate their sufferings.

Mahiuddin Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumer Association (BMPCA), said, “We welcome the new guidelines. We have been demanding low mobile internet data pack and addition of unused data in the next data purchase”

“We are still not informed about the data package tariffs, floor price, and selling price. If the data package price goes higher after the new step, the consumers will ultimately get deceived” he said.

“The consumers should not be kept limited to specific data pack to continue their unused data. The data have to be added in the next purchase whatever the data package they purchase”

The BMPCA president also urged the authorities to hold a meeting with the stakeholders, including consumer representatives, to fix the internet tariffs and packages.

According to BTRC, the number of mobile internet users is declining. There were 11.37 crore of mobile internet users in the country in December 2021, what was 11.65 crore in the previous month. In October, the figure stood 11.91 crore. Since then it has been decreasing.

But the broadband internet users went up to 1.90 crores in the last month of 2021.

Earlier in 2021, the BTRC had set the prices for transmission, bandwidth and services offered by internet service providers (ISPs) from the Nationwide Telecommunication Transmission Network (NTTN) and the International Internet Gateway (IIG) operators.

In reply, ISPs welcomed the move as fixing the rates for the bulk purchase of bandwidth and transmission services will enable them to comply with the government-fixed rate for broadband internet.